Editorial: Hey, Bud: Pete Rose deserves to be eligible for Hall

Thursday

Jul 30, 2009 at 12:01 AMJul 30, 2009 at 8:35 PM

The rumor that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was considering reinstating Pete Rose was denied faster than Rickey Henderson used to steal bases in his prime. Henderson was inducted Sunday into the baseball Hall of Fame, an honor that appears will never happen for Rose. Too bad. Pete Rose deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. If the person who has the most hits ever collected during a major league career doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame, who does?

The rumor that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was considering reinstating Pete Rose was denied faster than Rickey Henderson used to steal bases in his prime.

Henderson was inducted Sunday into the baseball Hall of Fame, an honor that appears will never happen for Rose.

Too bad. Pete Rose deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. If the person who has the most hits ever collected during a major league career doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame, who does?

Rose was never the most gifted athlete in the game, but he worked harder than his peers. His aggressiveness and desire earned him the nickname “Charlie Hustle.” He was an All-Star at four different positions. He played the game the way it should be played.

The issue, of course, is not Rose’s playing ability, but his character. Rose bet on baseball games when he was a manager of the Cincinnati Reds. He was banned for life by Commissioner Bart Giamatti, but Rose thought he could apply for reinstatement later. Giamatti died eight days later, and Rose’s baseball hopes died with him.

The powers-that-be in baseball must think gambling is the worst crime against the game that can be committed. Other sports have not taken as hard a line.

Paul Hornung was suspended from the NFL an entire season for gambling, including betting on Packers games he played in. Hornung is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. Michael Jordan welched on huge gambling debts — and lied about it in a private meeting with NBA Commissioner David Stern — and gambled illegally with convicted felons while the rest of his teammates visited the White House, and he’s in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Baseball’s Hall of Fame has its share of individuals who are far from saints. Ty Cobb, the man whose record Rose broke and an inaugural member of the Hall in 1936, stabbed a black man in Detroit, but got away with it because of the racist views of the times. Cobb and Tris Speaker, another Hall-of-Famer, threw a game in 1919, according to “Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame,” by Zev Chafets.

Chafets’ book also says Cap Anson, inducted in 1939, did all he could to keep black players out of the major leagues. Some historians refer to Anson as the “Father of Segregated Baseball.”

Gaylord Perry, who was inducted in 1991, was famous for throwing a “spitball” — an illegal pitch.

Rose might have helped himself if he had been upfront about his gambling, but he thought denial would give him the best chance of getting back into the game he loved. He finally admitted he placed bets on the Reds in his 2004 book “My Prison Without Bars.”

Reinstating Rose would not automatically put him in Cooperstown with the likes of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron, who recently endorsed putting Rose into the Hall. The 65 living Hall-of-Famers who make up the Veterans Committee would have to vote him in.

Rose has paid his penance with a long ban during which he wasn’t allowed to even go inside a major or minor league baseball park. It doesn’t seem fair for baseball to turn its back on steroid problems for so long, yet come down so harshly on Rose for gambling as a manager.

The Hall of Fame was created to celebrate achievements on the field. Rose’s accomplishments make him more than worthy to be in it.

Rockford Register Star

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.